Snow on the Willow

    About 12 years ago our family purchased a weeping willow tree and planted it in the front yard.  It grew quickly and has drawn lots of attention over the years.  People who had no idea where we lived knew exactly where our house was when we told them about the willow on the corner.  It has been used for the backdrop of the annual Mother's Day pictures, graduation pictures, as well as prom and formal dance pictures.  Passers by have stopped to ask if they could take small parts of the tree for art projects.  One man stopped, after driving by many times, and left a poem he had written about a willow.  And at Christmastime, lights go on the willow while the leaves are still green and come off after the leaves have fallen.  That's the way it was this year as well.  But winter came a little early. 
   The saying goes "if you don't like the weather in Arkansas, wait until tomorrow, it will change".  This was one of those weeks.  Too warm to feel very Christmasy at first.  But about mid week things changed.  Rain.  Then frozen rain and sleet.  Temperatures dropped and dropped some more.  Generator purchased just in case power was lost.  We waited and watched.  By evening everything was covered in a beautiful layer of ice.  And it was still falling.  Unfortunately our outside Christmas decorations hadn't been completed so our youngest son and I decorated as more ice fell.  Yes, we're crazy.  :)
     The willow was absolutely breathtaking!  The ice had fallen while the wind blew and the willow had frozen in designs more beautiful than ever before.  I am always in awe of it's beauty but this was particularly breathtaking.  Until I realized the heavy weight the ice was putting on the tree.  I asked my husband if perhaps the fire department would bring their ladder truck over and let us clear off the ice at the top of the tree.  The answer was no of course but he suggested I pray for my tree.  (I've said that if we ever move the only thing I would really want to take would be that tree.  My family all knows it's my favorite part of our yard.)  I did what I could to shake some of the ice off the tree and I prayed.
     The next morning we woke to frozen vehicles.  Well everyone's except mine because it was in the garage.   The roads were frozen.  Everything in our yard was frozen.  But we didn't loose power this time!  After working only a couple of hours, our office was closed as snow was piling on top of the thick sheet of ice covering absolutely everything.  So when I arrived home, I moved a broken willow limb out of the street and prayed some more.  By early evening I was finding out that we still weren't finished decorating the yard so we started in again with testing and putting out lights.  Eventually we were all outside, looking at our lights in the snow and having a great time! 
     But the willow still concerned me.  On top of the twisted ice covered limbs had fallen several inches of snow.  Limbs had broken.  Others were weighted down to the ground under the ice and snow.  It was completely breathtaking and heartbreaking all at the same time.  I began shaking off the ice and snow.  Soon we were all hitting the limbs with tennis rackets, a rake and a broom, breaking off the ice and shaking off the snow.  The limbs slowly lifted.  We took a break under the tree and truly felt like we were in a winter wonderland!  Several times I was asked if we were hurting the tree.  My answer was always 'no' and that the tree was breathing a sigh of relief as it was able to stand up with the weight being lifted. 
     That started me thinking.  The tree was beautiful covered in snow and ice.  But it wasn't made for that kind of weight and needed help.  The help we gave it seemed more like we were hurting the tree but it would have hurt even more had we not beaten off the ice and snow.  Such is life.  Sometimes we pray.  Sometimes the answers to our prayers come thru situations that seem to be more difficult than the original problem.  We 'lose limbs' and have scars.  But we grow.  Roots grow deeper.  We are strengthened.  And one day we bloom again.  God can and will use those difficult times of our lives but only if we submit to Him.  Let Him. 
     Now of course we couldn't be outside in the snow without snow being thrown around and everyone having fun.  And it's just not a snow day without snow ice cream!  And more snow ice cream.  Three days of snow ice cream so far and winter hasn't even started yet!  Of course we are in Arkansas.  Just hang around if you don't like the weather.  It will change in day or so and the snow and ice will just be a beautiful memory.